Last month I wrote a blog post saying that I was considering writing a novel of some sort. Well, I have finally settled on a theme, genre and all the other various details associated with it.
I have decided upon writing a spy/crime fiction type novel. I have also decided that I want write it as a collection of short stories rather than one long novel. This I feel will give it greater flexibility in terms of plot, character development as well as actually writing it. The first book (of many I hope) will have three or four of these short stories each being twenty to thirty pages long. Clearly the first of these short stories will serve largely to introduce all the characters and set the scene so to speak with the later stories building on from that.
I have now developed the bulk of the novel's key characters although these are being constantly tweaked as I have started to write the actual novel itself. I have also brain stormed a few ideas about what some of the short stories could involve, but these remain at the very stages at the moment. Right now I am at the point where I have written about half a dozen pages of the first story and like I said, this has largely served to introduce all the key characters. This has allowed me to get the ideas that are in my head onto paper and now I can think more clearly about what direction I want the novel to take.
In addition to actually writing the novel itself, I have also been looking at some of the practical aspects such as the legal considerations like copyright etc. as well as actually getting it into the public domain. To begin with at least it will be published as an ebook. This is simply due to the relative ease of published via this route as compared to the financial and time commitment required to publish an actual physical book. If I do go down the electronic route I am also considering giving it away for free (at least to begin with) simply to give it the greatest level of public exposure at least to begin with.
I know it's going to be slow and I know I'm not going to make any money out of it, but that's not why I'm doing it. I am doing it to help expand my knowledge and skill base but also for the sheer enjoyment of it. When we're children we spend most of our time using our imagination and creatively coming up with games, characters and stories and it's a shame we start to lose that as we grow up. So developing and writing these stories will, at least in some small way, help me relive that creativity I had in my youth.
But saying that, I want something that is not only creative but also well written. I have started to read a few amateur novels over the last couple days and the writing really hasn't been the best. When I say this, I'm not necessarily just talking about grammar. I am also talking about the way it's written and the way you can tell the author has pictured what they've written in their head. Quite often these authors find it hard to differentiate between themselves and the characters in their books. This has often resulted in these authors clearly writing about their own lives and opinions alot more than they intended. There is nothing wrong with using you own experiences when writing but it shouldn't be overly obvious to the reader; they must believe they're reading about the lives of the characters in the book and not necessarily about your life.
I know this has been a long post so I'll leave it there and until next time, thanks for reading.
Jason Cates
I have decided upon writing a spy/crime fiction type novel. I have also decided that I want write it as a collection of short stories rather than one long novel. This I feel will give it greater flexibility in terms of plot, character development as well as actually writing it. The first book (of many I hope) will have three or four of these short stories each being twenty to thirty pages long. Clearly the first of these short stories will serve largely to introduce all the characters and set the scene so to speak with the later stories building on from that.
I have now developed the bulk of the novel's key characters although these are being constantly tweaked as I have started to write the actual novel itself. I have also brain stormed a few ideas about what some of the short stories could involve, but these remain at the very stages at the moment. Right now I am at the point where I have written about half a dozen pages of the first story and like I said, this has largely served to introduce all the key characters. This has allowed me to get the ideas that are in my head onto paper and now I can think more clearly about what direction I want the novel to take.
In addition to actually writing the novel itself, I have also been looking at some of the practical aspects such as the legal considerations like copyright etc. as well as actually getting it into the public domain. To begin with at least it will be published as an ebook. This is simply due to the relative ease of published via this route as compared to the financial and time commitment required to publish an actual physical book. If I do go down the electronic route I am also considering giving it away for free (at least to begin with) simply to give it the greatest level of public exposure at least to begin with.
I know it's going to be slow and I know I'm not going to make any money out of it, but that's not why I'm doing it. I am doing it to help expand my knowledge and skill base but also for the sheer enjoyment of it. When we're children we spend most of our time using our imagination and creatively coming up with games, characters and stories and it's a shame we start to lose that as we grow up. So developing and writing these stories will, at least in some small way, help me relive that creativity I had in my youth.
But saying that, I want something that is not only creative but also well written. I have started to read a few amateur novels over the last couple days and the writing really hasn't been the best. When I say this, I'm not necessarily just talking about grammar. I am also talking about the way it's written and the way you can tell the author has pictured what they've written in their head. Quite often these authors find it hard to differentiate between themselves and the characters in their books. This has often resulted in these authors clearly writing about their own lives and opinions alot more than they intended. There is nothing wrong with using you own experiences when writing but it shouldn't be overly obvious to the reader; they must believe they're reading about the lives of the characters in the book and not necessarily about your life.
I know this has been a long post so I'll leave it there and until next time, thanks for reading.
Jason Cates
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